An anesthesiologist is a type of physician that deals with patients who are undergoing surgery or need pain relief. Their main job is to administer medicine that prevents a patient from feeling pain which is called anesthetics. They also monitor their patients to adjust the dosage as needed as well as prescribing medicine to use after surgery. While anesthesiologist are usually associated with surgery, they have been known to see patients who suffer from chronic pain due to their high level of skill and knowledge when it comes to pain medications.
The employment outlook for anesthesiologists is very good, though there is some advanced training that is required. Anesthesiologists usually need to go through college, medical school and then specialized medical training. Once finished with the training though, an anesthesiologist can look forward to being skilled in a high demand field that has a high salary.
Anesthesiologist Job Responsibilities
When dealing with surgery, an anesthesiologist’s responsibilities are varied. They will have to choose the type of anesthetics that will work for the patient and the type of surgery. They will have to administer the anesthetics to the patient before surgery starts. Then they will have to carefully monitor the patient during surgery and adjust the flow of the anesthetic used as needed. After surgery, they will need to prescribe the medicine the patient should take during the recovery period.
When it comes to chronic pain, an anesthesiologist can work with the patient to find the best pain medicine that will work for them. Different patients react to different medicines, so an anesthesiologist, with their high level of knowledge with pain medications, is the best to work with this type of patient who suffers from chronic pain.
Anesthesiologist Training and Education Requirements
An anesthesiologist is a type of doctor so they will have to go through a lot of training. As with other types of doctors, they will have to go through four years of college under a pre-med program. And then they will have to go through four years of medical school. After they are finished with medical school, they will have to go through another four years of specialized training. The years of specialized training will included a general internship and then an intensive residency program. Even once all this schooling is done, an anesthesiologist will have to keep up with the latest advances in their field.
Anesthesiologist Salary And Wages
The median salary for an anesthesiologist is $321,686 per year. This can vary greatly on the amount of experience an anesthesiologist has along with the area of the country they are working in. An anesthesiologist should be able to negotiate the salary that they want, especially if they are willing to move to different parts of the country. But if an anesthesiologist wishes to stay in their home area, the demand for the job is high enough that you should be able to secure a high wage.
Anesthesiologist Certifications
While it is not required, there are several certifications offered to anesthesiologists by The American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA). An anesthesiologist can get an initial certification when they first start out as well as a maintenance of certification to those who have completed the ABA initial certification. There are also certifications in specialties such as critical care medicine, pain medicine, sleep medicine and more.
There are high levels of skill that is needed to get these certification from ABA. Because of this, getting these certifications from ABA will help an anesthesiologist secure a job and ask for a higher salary. These certifications can also ensure that an anesthesiologist is still skilled and on top of the latest developments in his or her field.
Anesthesiologist Professional Associations
There are several professional associations that an anesthesiologist can join. The one is the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA). ASA was formed in 1905 by a group of nine colleagues as the Long Island Society of Anesthetists. The group continued to grow and they changed to their current name in 1945. It is a professional association that has the goal of raising the standard when it comes to anesthesiology as well as researching new techniques to be used in this field. ASA has over 43,000 members and is headquartered in
Park Ridge, Illinois. They publish to several publications including The Journal Anesthesiology and ASA newsletter. They expect their members to have a high level of professionalism throughout their careers which is why ASA is the highest standard when it comes to anesthesiology professional associations.
